Not-Pubs of old - Dublin's Beer Houses and Spirit Grocers

In Summer 2020, I wrote "What Is A Pub?", detailing the types of licences I consider to be pubs and criticising a reductionist attempt by the LVA to disassociate themselves from an event happening somewhere that nearly everyone except them considered to be a pub.

However, there are plenty of places that lots of people consider to be pubs but definitely aren't - these days they are mostly members clubs. Sports clubhouses, institutional setups like the Dáil and college bars compromise the majority of these; but the one that I get asked about the most is the Millmount House in Drumcondra - which looks and mostly acts like a pub; but is the Association of Retired Prison Officers bar. 

There are also a small number of hotel residents bars that ignore the 'residents' restriction, and a few restaurants significantly stretching the use of their Special Restaurant Licence or Restaurant Certificate on a wine licence, but not many - and I'm not naming them here.

But in the semi-distant past, there were two other categories that would have turned up; had I been around in the 1890s and doing this blog via a column in the Freemans Journal perhaps. Beer Houses and Spirit Grocers existed in Dublin in semi-significant numbers, particularly in certain areas, and had specific constraints on their trade compared to premises with the standard (6- or 7- day Publicans Ordinary) licence.

Spirit Grocers

Spirit Grocers probably cause the most confusion; as this term was often used as a euphemism for the bar of an actually publican licenced premises with an attached grocery - the LVA used to be the LVGA - Licenced Vintners and Grocers Association - and what we often call 'the Barmans Union' also covered grocery staff. But the category of premises being referred to here would today be an in-store off-licence.

The Spirit Retailers Off-Licence category still exists; either standalone (very rarely), or combined with a Wine Retailers Off-Licence and a Beer Retailers Off-Licence to form a "full" off-licence licence, as held by the majority of standalone off-licences and all the supermarkets and convenience stores in Dublin that sell beer and spirits in addition to wine.

So, you may think, it was just an off-licence back then as it is now - and most of them were. But there were plenty of Spirit Grocers who would serve for consumption on the premises, often to women who would not - or could not - go to a pub to drink and did not want to (or again, could not) be seen to drink at home. Allowing women behind a wall of tea chests to drink a bottle of stout or a Baby Powers - introduced in 1889 at a larger size than it is currently, at 71ml, two full Irish shots - was often done but was, by the letter of the law, illegal.

It is impossible to know how many Spirit Grocers allowed this practice, as there are not usually accurate registers of law-breakers! But prosecutions can easily be found. This example mentions the hiding behind a partition to consume. This was Mulholland's fifth conviction for allowing consumption on site.

 Freemans Journal, February 2nd 1900

Many places that may be recorded in social histories as "pubs", particularly in working class areas, are in fact Spirit Grocers - particularly if coming from someone's memory of where their mother or grandmother drank. 

Beer Houses

This second category provided something that could range from effectively a bottle shop - beer/cider/perry only - through to a full pub style experience; albeit only able to sell beer, cider, perry and non-alcoholic drinks.

Beer Houses were a licencing oddity, an Irish version of a reduced regulations licence type offered in England & Wales since 1830, but one which disallowed on-sales. Even though full pub licences could, in theory, be created anew until 1902 there were (and still are now) strict regulations that could prevent you from obtaining one - and they were particularly difficult to obtain in Dublin compared to elsewhere in the country.

A Beer House licence was obtainable with significantly less conditions - £1 application fee, initially 1s (5p/6c) a year licence, and prior to 1864, no requirement to prove good character - and as such they became quite common.

An attempt to restrict these, pushed for by the LVGA of the time due to the significant competition they provided to their members, lead to restrictions in 1877 requiring the rateable valuation of the premises to be £15 if in a city or large town. This closed many Beer Houses down nearly overnight and all but prevented new one from being opened. A £15 valuation for a premises not already containing a successful business would have been next to impossible to obtain in 1877 - indeed, here is an example of a small, but fully licenced pub in a poorer area of Dublin (Chamber Street) only being valued at £14 in 1912.

29 Chamber Street in Thoms Dublin Directory, 1912

As an aside - the Beer Retailers Off Licence that still exists and forms part of the normal "full off-licence" is the last relic of this system, as it still imposes the same valuation restrictions as were brought in in 1877, however they have never been adjusted for inflation so are basically irrelevant.

There were substantial numbers of these licences issued, but a significantly smaller number of licences equivalent to the GB Beer House - the Beer Retailers On Licence.

I had inaccurately assumed that Beer Houses had ceased to be around the time of the 1902 licencing changes, but references to them in Dublin turn up quite some years afterwards. 

Sam from Come Here To Me! turned up a 1906 court case involving after-hours serving at a Beer House in East Wall, notably mentioning that it had a full bar. This premises - with its >£15 rateable valuation - continued as a Beer House until at least 1916, being up for sale with same in that year; but in 1933 its off-licence (clearly no longer the Beer House licence - it may have become a full off licence so as to sell spirits) was voided for serving on-premises

Irish Press, July 1st 1933

CSO Statistical Abstracts, published from the mid 1920s onwards, provided a figure for the number of Beer Retailers On Licences renewed in the previous year - peaking at 91 in the 1928/29 licencing year and slowly declining afterwards

Legislation was introduced to more easily allow a Beer House to become a pub by onboarding a 6-day licence from a closed pub in 1927, and 7-day licences after 1942 - the Dáil debates around this claim that there were still 153 of them in the State, which despite being significantly higher than the figure from the CSO Abstracts, could actually be valid as licences are often not reliably renewed annually and the likelihood of there being minor objections and delays when dealing with a lower value, lower cost licence would be higher.

That the licences were so rare is occasionally reflected in media reportage. A newspaper report (Irish Press, April 10th 1954) featuring a judge who had never seen a Beer House licence come before him and having it explained as a "very old licence" 

Holders of beerhouse licences were given the option to convert them to conventional pub licences (along with those holding 6 day and/or early closing licences, deemed as one to be "restricted licences") during the early 1960s  for £100, and again for a brief period in the early 2000s, on payment of £2,500, and a committal to holding on to it for five years. 

Revenue's statistical bulletins show single figure numbers of beer on-licences being renewed by the mid 1970s onwards, with 1976 the first showing below 10, albeit it did occasionally go back above. 19 were renewed in 1996, possible aware that the conversion amnesty was going to be brought in  - the "prize" from doing this was a licence worth about €100,000 after your five period, at the going rate.

Revenue's last year of statistical bulletins showing any number is 2007, with eight licences. There are zero shown every year since. I suspect, but have no solid basis for doing so, that licences being converted under the early 2000s scheme continued to be listed as such until their five year no-sale period expired. This gives us a last Beer House date of some time in the early to mid 2000s. By comparison, the last in the UK closed in 1980.

1020516 O'Regans

This pub popped up like a submarine - I didn't notice planning for it, didn't notice any social media stuff for it in advance and only found out about it after it was already open. I do state that my list of future pubs - see the sidebar as the 2023 one is about to be replaced with a 2024 one so linking is pointless - cannot be exhaustive, but depth charges like this one are rare. In my defence, I believe the build might even have kicked off pre-pandemic when I wasn't tracking these things as closely.

Dublin By Pub has identified, in tweets I cannot currently locate, a trend that a substantial number of Dublin's new pubs are going for a classic Dublin pub interior these days, the complete opposite of the industrial look that was common for years (and even had some 2023 appearances). O'Regans meets this trend, with dark wood, brass, marble and padded seats making it feel like it could be contemporary to the building (1881).

The pub occupies two of the units of the South City Markets building, one formerly part of the still extant David Marshall hairdressers, and the other the missed, but still online, Opus II sheet music store. This sold instruments and equipment but was best known for its sheet music and music books, and this is what they now sell online.

This provides two bars, one offering cocktails and the other 'only' normal bar products. They both have an odd, limited but more than sufficient for me tap listing - featuring amongst the oddities Kilkenny, Harp and an own brand lager; with a Rye River IPA providing my drinks.

I visited this pub - and the next two - two days after the Parnell Square / O'Connell Street riots; feeling that the city centres retailers and publicans could do with some support. As a result, the pub was very, very quiet but this is not a visit that you could take as a baseline for how busy it might get.

1010888 Birchalls (Crumlin/Drimnagh)

Google Maps told me this pub was closed. Its Instagram page hasn't been updated for three years, and links to a website that doesn't exist. Even the pubs golf society's Facebook page hasn't been updated since Winter 2021. And I even thought I'd already passed it on the way to the previous pub without noticing that it was open. This is an unfortunate story repeated many times across Dublin since the pandemic and I was about to write the place off.

But it was only around the corner, so I decided to make absolutely sure before knocking it off my list as undoable. And it was very much open. I corrected Google Maps. 

A nice warm (the night was quite cold, so this was an important factor for me!) pub with Beamish on tap, with obviously enough locals trade to keep it going despite being near invisible online.

The bar section is quite small and has an exceptionally awkward table layout that pretty much requires you to get right in to the personal space of other drinkers even when its half empty, but that's about the only negative I can think of.

S1430 The Gate

After the last pubs brief trip to 2006, conversation wise, I wondered if the time machine affect would continue in the next pub. And continue it did.

The Gate has a classic, but in good condition, bar interior; a fridge bursting with bottled Macardles, an unfortunately out of use Bass tap, and Beamish at a reasonable price to round off feeling like you've stepped somewhat back in time.

A 1930s build like the rest of the area; this build, I believe, very briefly a Munster & Leinster Bank (one of the Allied Irish Banks) before becoming a pub in 1938

S1481 Two Sisters

This could have been my grandparents local - if either of them drank. One never did, one took to the odd sherry or vodka and white in later life - but after they'd moved away from almost directly  across the road. 

My mother - who also doesn't drink - main childhood memories are of a different house, as her parents lived here while she was in boarding school and Gaeltacht college for much of the year; and continued to lived there after she'd moved out to get married.

So I've no family lore about the pub to pad this out with. Oh well.

The pub was solidly busy on a cold evening, meaning I had to sit at the bar for my pint. But this provided a better accidental eavesdropping location than sitting elsewhere in the pub did, and this lead me to overhear the most Celtic Tiger era conversation I've heard in years (at least outside of D2/4).

Great detail was gone in to relating to selecting a rental property to buy, yields, interest rates and risks; although I got the impression that those getting the information were not convinced that this was the time to become a landlord. Neither was I, although I could probably only afford to invest in a Lego house in D6W.

Revisited Pubs October-November 2023

Got more new, and less revisited pubs in October than in the previous month of returning to the scene of events past. But I still visited a few. And forgot to publish the post. 

So here's two months worth:

N0006 Brew Dock - multiple times in both months, including dinner and arranging the distribution of tickets before a gig in...

N0033 3Arena - I had actually listed this on Septembers list, but it was October 1st so I've edited that now.

S4289 PMacs Dundrum - I wanted an Ambush. They did not have an Ambush - the crowd not watching the rugby the night before had drunk them dry.

S0194 The Hill, Ranelagh - I liked this so much the last time - years and years ago - I wanted to see what the new operators had done to the place. It hasn't changed much.

N0084 The Black Sheep - dinner before...

N0097 Underdog - late evening drinks

S1762 The Laurels

Some weeks before my trip to The Laurels, the group I was with were asked to both take an outdoor table and be prepared to leave if another group wished to eat in a bar. But that bar was in Barcelona; and the owner appeared to prefer leaving tables free for potential diners at all costs - there were a significant number of tables available inside too.

By comparison, when in The Laurels on my own those some weeks later, I was occupying a large four or small six person table, perfect in size to extend a broadsheet newspaper across. Some time towards the end of my pint, a very apologetic barman came over and asked if I would mind moving to a smaller table, should a larger party looking to eat come in.

I have absolutely no problem with this, and agreed - and indeed, did not need to, even after having a second pint; as no group of that size arrived. The smaller tables in question were still more than adequate to slum it in by folding my newspaper anyway.

That rambling comparison of the quality of hospitality in Ireland versus Catalonia does have a point - while the polite request is what you'd always want in Ireland; The Laurels has its eyes on becoming a hotel, where you would expect a certain standard of hospitality. I don't think that will be a problem here.

Beyond that interaction, which had no impact on me anyway and would barely have justified a mention even if I did move, this is a perfectly pleasant large suburban pub. There is obviously food on offer here, but it is maybe a tiny bit less of the core product than in its near neighbour.

S1479 The Pines

This isn't a negative review, but it is basically just neutral. This pub was very busy but I didn't quite "get" it. Its nicely fitted out, the staff were good but it really felt too much like a carvery pub for my tastes.

And, well, that's it. I don't really remember much else about it, so there wasn't anything negative. 

S1484 The Kestrel

This isn't quite a last-chance-to-see (although worryingly, we may be getting close to that for its avian namesake, at least in Ireland); but with two failed planning attempts to convert this giant complex in to apartments it is likely that there will be a further application in the future. 

A pub is likely to be retained in the new development - it has been in the plans - and despite some similar applications leaving the pub unit vacant or later converting it to more flats; many have actually returned - the near-ish 1017978 The Traders returned after its building was flattened for flats.

For now, you can go to the existing pub, which takes up most of the space on the site - a telephone exchange and a bookies complete the vast bulk of the existing structures. 

Cheap pints are the main attraction here - the 5.90 I paid for Smithwicks isn't terrible; but there were flyers for fiver pints at various times throughout the week also; all meeting the regulations on promotions I hasten to add.

This was my first pub on a day of many buses, and I needed to go for my second fairly quickly so my pint was consumed rapidly to enable a quick escape, so my insights here are somewhat limited!

December 2024 register update

Not a lot this month except a few new pins, one I've already done but not written up yet. There's also a lot of licence holder name changes, some potentially interesting; some utterly irrelevant and none of which give reliable data to say here. So its just the new ones.

New:

1019160 Hampton by Hilton, Chancery Street - opened some time ago with a residents bar licence but has upgraded to a pub licence

1020516 O'Regans, Fade Street - new pub, which I have already visited

S0234 Corrigans

This pub very much fell between two stools, or two roads more accurately, on my previous pub ticking missions. On a side road between the Rathmines and Ranelagh roads, each of which I've previous covered off, it never quite got ticked off before. (please try to avoid falling between two stools inside a pub)

A nice quiet pub, where I felt it would be polite to ask before plugging a charger in to one of the sockets about the lounge. With a decent atmosphere to sit and read my remaining bits of the paper in, I moved on to a second pint here - causing some confusion at the bar as I changed pints.

This confusion was likely compounded by how comparatively different my two choices were - the first pint was a Lagunitas, the second a Beamish. The affordability (my grandmothers oft-mentioned on here refusal to use the word 'cheap' still shines through!) of Beamish and the fact that I do actually enjoy it were proffered as my excuses - not that one was required, as the pint was being poured despite the barmans incredulity at the change.

The pub was relatively quiet during my visit; but I believe that its out of the way location does not prevent it being lively on busier nights.

S4253 The Flying Duck (Harvey Nichols)

Shopping centre number four - the Dundrum Town Centre - and not the pub I was intending to go to initially. There is a branch of the Musgrave-owned Donnybrook Fair supermarket chain here which holds a full pub licence, covering its restaurant and off-licence. The restaurant closes at 4. 

It was about 4:05 when I arrived, and it was very, very closed.

But that is not the only pub in the centre (by any means - there's six licences of varying types here) and not the only one I hadn't visited either. Another I had yet to visit is the often closed, frequently rebranded 'restaurant' in Harvey Nichols

The current incarnation of this is the Flying Duck, run as part of a chain by actor and publican Gary Whelan, of S0120 Whelans fame. However, a few days prior to me turning up in Dundrum, Gary's two other Duck pubs had closed and called creditors meetings. One of these, S0281 Dalkey Duck, reopened immediately (as in hours) after said creditors meeting, but the 1014978 Wild Duck is still closed. But the Flying Duck was unaffected by this.

Now, this may entirely be down to the time I visited, but I have to wonder if the Flying version of the ducks will also be affected at some point, as I was the only customer in the entire pub the entire time I was there. Which was about 40 minutes, on a busy Saturday.

Harvey Nicks had plenty of customers, when I went out through it. S4289 PMacs on the ground floor of the shopping centre had plenty of customers. There was nothing wrong with my cocktail, or with the polite staff, or the pleasant surroundings, or the copious signage (including, as far as I remember, duck webbed foot print stickers up the staircase although maybe they were just normal footprints) telling you the bar was there.

My Manhattan was fine and reasonably priced for where we were. I do hope this place gets more customers at other times.

Also, despite the Avios rules for Harvey Nicks spending specifically excluding all bars, restaurants and cafes, I got 4 Avios per euro on top of the one per four I normally get. I think this may be the only Avios-earning bar in the entire country.

S2186 Ollies Bar

A single storey pub? With a (partially) flat roof? In a shopping centre, opposite a council estate?

If you listen to all the "don't drink in a pub with X" claims, I should have run as far as possible from this pub, which sits behind the Balally Shopping Centre. But I went in, and it was fine.

The pub was very busy, astoundingly warm, and extensively decorated for Halloween when I visited. In keeping with the season, I managed to give someone a brief scare while here - and not from a costume. 

As I may have mentioned before, I am of what was once considered abnormal height, and while there's now piles of teenagers the same height as me, they aren't old enough to drink yet. A slightly awkward toilet door arrangement here caused me to open the door inwards just as someone was about to push it, and the surprise at the door going away from him and A Giant appearing from behind it caused him to recoil sufficiently that his glasses fell off the top of his head. They weren't broken, not that I could really be at fault for being Quite Large.

I'd say the bulk of the people in the lounge were there for the carvery offering, and I should probably have stuck my head in to the bar too - but I'm more of a lounge dweller and I can't realistically have two pints in every pub either.

1006937 Noosh Cafe Bar / Zaytoon

Including this as being part of my Shopping Centre Series is a bit of a cheat - you have to walk through an apartment block to get here. But The Beacon is The Beacon, and I'm considering it part of the retail offering here.

So - what would you expect when Ireland's most famous kebab shop chain (who serve only halal food) takes over an empty, Celtic Tiger era pub in an outer suburban shopping centre? I don't think "retain a pub as an important part of the premises" is going to be top of the list, but that is what has happened here.

Zaytoon operate from the ground floor of this.... interesting looking copper-roofed structure, which was once simply known as Copper Bar; but the basement is now operated as the Noosh Cafe Bar.

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Noosh opens at 5pm every day, something I forgot to check before visiting. However, with some free tables in the restaurant, there was no issue in having the staff descend in to the depths and obtain me a pint - I may have had trouble had the restaurant been closer to full as I doubt they would have turned on the basement lights for me hours before normal operating times.

I didn't really experience the actual pub here by any means, but this isn't the easiest place to get to give a return visit a go - and I have had a drink on the premises. That'll do for a tick.

1015031 Elephant & Castle Sandyford

Shopping Centre #2, and a "pub" I really wish wasn't a pub. Maybe, just maybe, if the proposed licencing reforms do dispose of the principle of licence surrender, I can be more selective about what is a pub from the hopefully rapid growth in premises with a normal pub licence.

But, for now, yet-another-Elephant-and-Castle is a normal 7 Day Ordinary pub, and tick it I must. A chore made easier by there being plentiful seats inside this outpost of the chain.

This time I had eggs benedict. And a pint, clearly. 

S3252 The Gallops

It was never my intention to do a themed ticking trip, but shortly after getting to the furthest out, and hence first, pub of the day I realised that I was about to visit a series of pubs in shopping centres. 

Dublin's shopping centres have often included pubs - things you'd identify as a pub rather than just places with pub licences at that - from the days of the first modern shopping centres in the 60s. Stillorgan SC had a Madigans in what I think is the now the Brambles cafe upstairs; although this is long gone; and only planning issues prevented a huge Madigans opening in Nutgrove when new.

Some other early shopping centres have shed their pubs, e.g. the multiple premises in Dun Laoghaire SC which replaced the pubs that were demolished to enable its construction are all now closed. But others still remain, and even persist in newer build shopping centres.

And The Gallops is one of these, being part of the Leopardstown Valley shopping centre, and also right beside the Leopardstown Village one - which is far less village like. 

A large pub with a tiny selection of taps - I think I counted seven unique offerings - and heavily themed around the nearby racecourse (as if the name didn't give you a hint). It was early enough in the day that only a few regulars were in, having a familiar conversation with the bar staff - despite being in a shopping centre, this pub definitely has regulars.

N0027 Annesley House

One of my odder omissions considering how often I have passed it in the past, particularly when working in East Wall or East Point for an entire decade over two employers. 

The main room of this pub features a large U shaped bar, and unfortunately for an asthmatic like me, there's a bit of black mould on the ceiling in a few places there and in the toilets. In another circumstance where it wasn't potentially going to screw up my breathing, the cheap enough pints and lively atmosphere would not turn me away from coming back here.

There seems to be a decent, small, gig space upstairs - a dying presence in Dublin pubs these days.

N0148 Meaghers

This pub got somehow missed when cleaning up this area when I worked nearby, as also happened to my next visit. But I've got them now.

I was not expecting this pub to be quite so huge. When I visited, the front bar was out of action but the vast, vast lounge out the back was open. And serving about four customers. 

I imagine that match day traffic - Croke, Tolka and maybe even Parnell Park; gigs, and the increased traffic to Clontarf on summer days could fill out the lounge. Indeed, amongst the greebling on the walls was an old CIE poster advertising travel for matches

Over 5 years now since I left CIE (for a contractor but I had staff ID and a https://t.co/X9K8tQ7V2P email). Still think the Flying Snail should have been used more often pic.twitter.com/aCas95sZ6m

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) September 10, 2023

Ended up having a good and rather rambling chat with one of those four customers, and even that rarest of rare things when out ticking - a second pint. Although I went to the clearly moving Guinness, as it seemed none of the others were drinking Smithwicks and it tasted a tad the worse for (non?)wear as a result

N0181 The 1884

Ever since this pub rebranded (from Graingers) a few years ago, it has caused some commentary online about allegedly arbitrary rules and exclusion of customers based on those rules. What a place to pick for my 700th pub, on a rolling register count basis (and arguably invalid as I have a visit in hand, waiting for it to appear on the sodding register).

I walked right in, not falling foul of the rules posted right outside the pub, which are more detailed than you often see but not *that* arbitrary. You don't see many pubs specify how big they consider a group to be, but nearly every pub will reject groups at times.

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I was able to enter, obtain a drink, and leave of my own volition - but as I was on my own, not wearing a tracksuit and only wishing I was still vaguely near 20 I was unlikely to come to the attention of the staff.

Pub's nice enough inside, if you get in. Pint was fine, atmosphere fine.

N0142 Kitty Kiernans

This was the pub I think I've taken the shortest bus trip ever to, at two stops - I'd already walked quite a bit, had more to do, and the bus was right there as I got to the stop. And its the first pub where I've ever had to ask the staff to (try, at least) clean the toilets as every cubicle in the lounge was jammed with bog roll, and the urinals were partially festooned too. I suspect they may have had to get, and heavily pay, a plumber to deal with the clogging.

The bar had working jacks; and the *rest* of the pub is much nicer than the specific moment in time state of the lounge toilets caused by punter(s) past. There's a lot of wood and a lot of glass and a fairly nice overall feel to the place - albeit it was a tad dark in places.

This pub has a bit more historical importance than may be apparent; having been one of the large chain of pubs owned by the Belton family. The Beltons were property developers as well as publicans and FG TDs, and the Collins Avenue address / Kitty Kiernan name belies their political affiliation; albeit it was not the first name of the pub. The presumably golfing related "19th" was the original name - it is not the street number of the building.

November 2023 register update

Another month and another year - the November register is the first for the 2023/24 licencing year and is always down a few hundred entries as registrations are late being processed by the courts/Revenue/whatever. So there's no possible way to list removals for this month; but we will look at some figures from the year end and year on year

Additions:

1020397 Motel One, Liffey Street - another new hotel. At least I've found out the Hilton beside M Hughes only has a residents bar!

Readditions:

N2528 Jack O'Neills, Tyrrellstown - long closed pub re-licenced to a Jersey based financial firm

Yearly stats:

October 2023's file saw 958 premises renewed by the time the file was generated. This is one down on the equivalent 2022 figure, once Aerodrome licences are removed as per my decision to not count those. Between the two years additions and deletions, again excluding Aerodrome licences, there were 984 licences

This figure is usually a reasonable figure short (40-50 or so - due to late renewals or other issues) on licenced premises, but always a good amount above the number of trading premises. I would estimate at there being about 900 trading premises that meet my criteria currently; a hefty increase on 2022 as pandemic era closures unwind and new premises - nearly all hotels unfortunately - open; and outweigh other closures.

Year-on-year removals:

I have omitted premises that I believe are still trading, or were during the licence year. Some may have dropped their pub licence - if they don't reappear for some time I'll remove them from the master

ARP0667 Blue Gardenia, Brittas - has not reopened since the pandemic, licence has been sold
N0091 Mayes, Dorset Street - has become a Centra, licence presumably converted to off sales
N0602 Barrys Hotel, Great Denmark Street - sold 2021 and currently not trading as a hotel
N1898 Caulfields Hotel, Dorset Street - bar converted to more bedrooms
S0228 The Ton Tin, Rathfarham - pub with a very trouble recent opening history leaves the register, again
S0775 Ballsbridge Hotel, Ballsbridge - closed for demolition
S1594 Firhouse Inn, Firhouse - closed for redevelopment
S2278 Baron Johns, Crumlin S/C - this was being used for the Molloys off licence, which has closed
S3032 POD Complex, Harcourt Street - eventually removed many years after conversion to offices

I had already removed some of these, so this only hits my completion number by two, and my target by one (Barrys).

N0139 The Ramble Inn

This is a slightly odd pub, spatially. From the outside, its presence - at the end of a row of shops that features an exceptionally long closed but still present chipper - makes you feel like you're somewhere quite rural. And inside, you feel like you're in a branch of The Range - in the furniture and cushion section specifically. 

Its been done up quite recently, and features a *lot* of silver and grey decor and a *lot* of red leather. At that last refurb, the word "Inn" vanished from the name above the door; but this is ignored by basically everywhere that mentions the pub, so it remains the Ramble Inn everywhere.

Other than feeling like I was in Mrs Hinch's living room, my pint was a tad sour like it hadn't been moving (at all) so my overall impression wasn't great. I imagine the decor must appeal to someone, but it could easily put many off.

N0122 The Goblet

Where was I with moaning about that Five Lamps ad? Ah yes, in the Roundabout where they didn't actually sell their very local beer option, that being anything by Hope which were the closest of the set of breweries I measured the distance to.

The Goblet DOES sell some Hope, but still has the same damn ads up. Its actually closer too.

Beer made in Clonmel being represented as local in Artane. Whereas I'm having a pint actually locally made in Howth Junction. Ah Here is right pic.twitter.com/C2u4VqwRoL

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) September 10, 2023

Decent pint of Hop On. Inside of the pub could do with a little bit of a spruce up, but pub seems fine otherwise and was the busiest pub I was in all day. 

N0124 The Roundabout

We've all seen those old signs showing "the price of a pint" over a series of years, and can see that single penny increments were dropped for 5p increments at some time in the 1990s on most of those lists. 

I had now assumed that increments were 10c or maybe even 20c for most places; so I was somewhat surprised to be charged 6.05 for my pint. Of Cobra, as there's a fairly odd tap lineup in the lounge here.

There's also signs up claiming that Five Lamps is the locally brewed beer for the area. At 6.6km crow-flies to the Five Lamps Brewery on Camden Street, it is marginally closer than the 7km to Diageo; but there are two problems with this claim.

The first is that Hope are 3.6km away, with multiple other licenced breweries closer than 6.6km (Porterhouse, Brewdog, Urban, Hopkins & Hopkins and maybe more); so Five Lamps isn't the closest. 

The second is that the Five Lamps Lager being sold there is made in Clonmel. Only low volume products are made on Camden Street. So even without any Hope/Porterhouse/etc products, the Diageo stuff still wins.

But the pub doesn't supply the adverts, and likely doesn't care to vet them - and we'll see that sign again later, more problematically.

The lounge here is quite nice, renovated recently enough I'd imagine. Suburban pubs sometimes don't have a lot to write about, hence the rambling about prices and locations.

N0609 Ardlea Inn

One of the other pub-tickers claims this is "one of Irelands roughest pubs", of which I saw absolutely and utterly nothing to support that claim during my visit. This is not the first time I've found somewhere they claim to be incredibly rough to, well, not be - but this is the one that was the furthest from the case. Different times of day and so on may be different, your pintage may vary. I was also in the lounge, not the bar.

Easy place to get talking to the regulars, as far as I remember a decent pint of Smithwicks for how early in the trading day it was and a comfortable enough suburban pub.  

1020285 The Voyager

Sometimes you end up with a poor impression of a pub very quickly, and the reasons can vary. I initially found the wall of floor staff standing at the far end of the bar here a teeny bit intimidating, but that wasn't the problem here.

The problem here was two English fascists at the bar, discussing their support of specific English fascist figures and their racist views, in a conversation with the barman who was agreeing rather than fucking them out of the pub at the first instant.

I see no reason to return here.

S1523 Frehill Tavern

I think I need a new article tag for when I mention never really liking people standing in the doorway of pubs when I approach. But that isn't my only odd problem with pub doors - I don't like having to open the door (or the outer door) myself. Not in a "I want a doorman" way - the not liking people standing in the way would make that impossible; but in a "this isn't very inviting" way. I'm used to an outer door of a draught lobby being open at the least.

Frehills had the outer door closed, but I went inside anyway. Inside I was treated to cheap-ish Beamish in beer nerd pleasingly ancient glassware (2005 I think) and attentive bar staff. However, I was on a deadline for a bus and needed food, which the chipper next door supplied, so didn't stay for long. 

S1483 The Horse Shoe

This was a rather odd visit to a pub. It was initially odd in that it didn't appear that I was going in to a pub - it is completely buried behind a coffee shop, with a Guinness sign above the only obvious hint of what lies within. 

Additionally, a helpful local confirmed the way in to the pub to me, as apparently people do get lost a lot - albeit more of them are looking for the restaurant upstairs, which has moved from being above the long, long closed S1427 The Hub across the road in recent times.

Inside the pub, I felt as if I'd walked in to a pub somewhere on Merseyside, both from the huge contingent of Liverpool jersey wearing punters and the marginally unusual bar service, particularly when they didn't like the place I'd found to perch (I suspect I was somewhat too large to not be in the way of the bar staff, admittedly). 

The match may have brought in a lot of the custom, but plenty were also there for the daytime karaoke. As well as this being an odder thing itself, my non realisation of it being karaoke just added to it -  I actually assumed the first person taking part was a professional pub singer dressed down (Liverpool kit - not what you'd expect a pub singer to wear) for the occasion; but the second one made me knock my pint and run with an exceptional level of caterwauling.

S1482 The Village Inn

Telling the colleague mentioned in my previous writeup that I had actually gone to the pub they told me not to lead to a lengthy catch-up phone call, which happened after I'd bought a pint here.

I'm not going to take a phone call inside a pub in normal circumstances, and particularly not if its quite busy with people watching sports; so I spent the majority of my visit to The Village Inn in the smoking area out front, leaning on a barrel. So my memory of the interior of the pub is basically non-existant. 

Nice enough outdoor area though.

I do wonder if The Village Inn is the most common pub name in Ireland - with our trend of having a current or former owners name over the door, only a very common surname (and specifically maybe a Tipperary surname, with the odd propensity for Tipp publicans outside of the county) would probably outrank it. I do, sort of, have the data set to try work this out - but pubs are increasingly listed by their limited company name, and while Shancroft Taverns Ltd does also have The Village Inn listed on the register, not every pub has their trading name - or a current trading name when they do.

In Dublin, there are three Village Inns trading - this one, one in Finglas and one in Ballyboughal. There is also a trading Villager in Crumlin; a former Village Inn in Inchicore (T Kinsella - but it was called Village Inn that when I visited it) and also Rathcoole (now Baurnafea House) and Clondalkin (Purty Central). There may be more pubs with Graingers in the name, but as a prefix; and the same applies to Madigans.

S1521 Floods

A former colleague warned me not to go here; albeit it had its previous name (The Four Roads) back then.

I went here.

It was fine. There may have been the tiniest bit of "look at the outsider" going on, but this happens a lot - an abnormally large outsider turning up can raise eyebrows anywhere. That's pretty much all I have to say about the visit to the pub - it was absolutely fine. The suggestions of imminent disaster if I went in were not correct.

One of the older outer suburban pubs, opened in 1938; and sitting on the corner site in a row of the typical red brick shops that 1930s housing estates; this could almost be in England in terms of architechture.

The corner location is the obvious one for a pub, but it is matched by another across the green that is and was never a pub (I believe it was a H Williams supermarket originally). This building confused my "can always tell a pub" senses, but they aren't the most traditional pub buildings in an Irish setting.

The Four Roads of the old name here could almost be counted as five - there are three roads radiating off Sundrive Road rather than a crossroads of two roads creating four directions.

October 2023 Register Update

One addition this month, which I'd never noticed going through planning:

1020014 The Dean Townhouse, Harcourt Street - small but detached extension of 1009296 The Dean Hotel ('review' written for its now defunct basement nightclub) a few doors down

S1520 Stoneboat

There are many pub in Dublin that are heavily bedecked with nautical greebling - but they are usually either right beside the sea (Ringsend, Dun Laoghaire, etc) or just a tad inland in an area that would have housed many dockers in the pre-containerisation days (like N0028 Cusacks on the North Strand)

The Stoneboat is much further away from the sea than any of those; and instead has its nautical items in reference to its name. That name refers to a nearby, ancient (13th Century, though I don't think the current version is anywhere near that old) structure in the River Poddle that diverted water in to pipes towards the city, where it was used for drinking water.

That the name doesn't reference a sea-going boat has not stopped the interior of the pub having wheels, diving suits and every other bit of possible marine decoration you can think of. The pub wasn't always named as such - it has been recorded as the Turks Head in older records.

Beyond the name and the decoration, there is the matter of the pub itself - a perfectly normal inner suburban Dublin pub. Nothing notable occurred while I was to be worthy of comment, as is often the case in suburbia; and with a premises history that is clearly more limited than in older parts of the city, there usually isn't as much to write about. This is a good thing - these pubs target audience is their locals and being perfectly fine to finish reading the papers and have a pint (as this visit consisted of) suggests that you could probably become one of those locals fairly easily.

Ridiculously Late Review: N1994 The Grand Social

I noticed when writing up my September revisited pubs list that I had no page for The Grand Social. Which is odd as I have definitely drunk there during the lifetime of the blog.

Checking my notes on other visits, it would appear to have been March 2017, so this is all of 6.5 years late and I don't remember anything at all about downstairs - I dropped in before going to The Yarn in the Woollen Mills next door. So, erm... I presume it was fine cause I have no strong memories of it at all

My revisit was to the upstairs, accessed from the rear stairs, for an after party after a gig in The Academy. Its a good venue for this sort of thing, being separated from the main bar and capable of having seperate DJs playing.

I had previously attempted to drink here further 13+ years prior to that 2017 visit, having been refused at the door of Pravda, as-was, due to not having ID. That would have qualified it for my occasional RetroReview series, that I haven't updated since pubs reopened after the pandemic, but as I've basically written up the entire Northside it would at least have been written!

Revisited pubs, September 2023

Due to various reasons (gigs and showing someone around D8), this is an exceptionally long revisit list and I might even have missed some:

N0006 Brew Dock, Amiens Street - multiple times this month

N0215 Fidelity, Queen Street - first visit in this incarnation

S3908 The Well, Stephens Green - regular meeting venue

N0084 The Black Sheep, Capel Street - food before going to:

N0097 Underdog, Capel Street - drinks before going to a gig in:

N2256 The Academy, Middle Abbey Street - which had an after party in

N1994 The Grand Social, Liffey Street - I believe I first actually got served here (I was refused when it was Pravda and I was 17) this during the lifetime of the blog and appear to have never written it up...

N0082 McGraths, Drumcondra - frequent visit

S0104 Bull & Castle, Lord Edward Street - work night out that continued to:

S0117 The Lord Edward, Lord Edward Street

S3103 The Christchurch Inn, High Street - showing someone around changes in D8 

1019147 Tailors Hall, High Street - ditto

1016704 Johns Bar, Thomas Street - ditto

N0033 3Arena - the second gig

[number unknown] Ciss Maddens

This pub opened mostly under the radar, as I had somehow missed the 2019 planning permission application for it; and it did not have social media accounts pre-launch (nor does it have any yet either). It is part of the same group as S3712 Dakota / Rag Traders and S3454 Odeon, but there were no mentions to it on their accounts (that I noticed).

The main bar is a large box space, fitted out with reclaimed pub fittings that don't quite suit such a tall space, but it mostly works. As is often the case for a new pub, it was relatively quiet on the relatively busy day that I visited on - this new pub honeymoon period is often a good thing to look for if you want a quiet pint somewhere. There is a second bar upstairs but it wasn't open at the time.

At the time I visited, the pubs website wasn't up yet and I was going to have a paragraph wondering whether the name was a reference to the bar of the recently demolished Kielys complex in Donnybrook which bore the same name. Now that it has a website, this is confirmed - the name has followed the bar counter from Kerry to Drury Street via Donnybrook. That bar counter has a glass fronted section containing many old Irish rugby ticket stubs that would have been very hard to assemble now and gave me the idea it - the ticket collection at least if not the counter - had to have come from the former pub.

An interesting (but non unique) case of a reclaimed pub interior preserving some of its history - two sets of history at that; this is much more appealing to me than seeing a pub with random fittings from some other pub/shop/pharmacy that have been shorn of their history - such as you find in the major Irish chain pubs (Press Up, Fitzgerald) in Dublin all the time.

S0187 Dropping Well

Getting here required a bit of a walk to the Luas, followed by a bit of a walk from the Luas - it may have been better to do this on one of the days I have a driver. But this was somewhere I wanted to tick off as I'd been almost here so many times before. And I would have a few pints in me before doing the uphill bit on the way back.

During the early days of the 2020 lockdowns, when I worked in one of the 'essential worker' jobs that didn't have the risk and resultant attention that the more obvious ones had (as a side note, every job I've had since 2006 in three very different sectors all fell on the essential worker list, and not one of them was the obvious ones like medical, logistics or retail - which feels odd somehow), I used to meet with other staff and exchange work-from-home equipment with them in the large carpark here.

All those days sitting in the carpark and handing over computers, monitors, mixing desks etc (I was working in broadcasting at the time) looking at the forbidden premises beside us meant that it got towards the top of my ticking list; but the relative isolation from public transport left it unvisited - there is a bus stop right outside, but it is only served by a useless, one direction each peak service.

Like the other Charlie Chawke pubs, there's a few 'house' craft beers on tap as well as O'Haras; and an extensive food menu. The huge carpark makes it easy enough to come here for grub; and its worth the walk from the Luas for pints.

1015300 Elephant and Castle

Like many McKillen venues, this really fails the duck test for being a pub; but it has a full licence - inherited from the famed McGowans /Braemor Rooms / County Club pub and venue that previously sat here. However, one of my draft rules for 'what is a pub' is whether somewhere has regulars, and this E&C does.

I sat outside the 'pub' to have my overpriced pint of Italian-branded lager (I'm not sure where Moretti sold here is actually made); and was joined at the outside tables by a middle aged woman who knew the staff and clearly came here frequently for a wine and a view of a carpark.

The most interesting part of this trip was that there's a pharmacy next door with a VERY LOUD door opening alert for the staff - which happens to sound like someone playing the SCNF (French train company) announcement jingle on an 80s keyboard

You do need to have heard it over a worn out station tannoy system to notice the resemblance I suspect. And you can just go in to the pharmacy rather than pay over the odds for booze here to do so; and if you want a pint here I'd suggest you go to the sites of my previous or next writeups instead.

S0260 Bottle Tower

This pub was one of the first to reopen during the time I've been doing this project, in late 2016; and that reopening came with a locally controversial door policy that seems to have excluded many locals. However on the evening I turned up, there were no door staff and I can only assume this has been sorted out.

It was a tad hard to get service at the large wraparound bar in the centre, but the vast tap space that offers does result in there being lots of taps and some more interesting things on offer than you might expect in suburbia - the nearby Churchtown Stores also has good craft taps though.

The upstairs space here has internal branding as "The Big Gnu", or possibly "The Big GNU" if it is actually a free software themed pub... but as there isn't a single reference online to this name anywhere, I can but guess

Two decades of occasional code contributions to open source projects (VLC, Firefox, glib, Haiku) and I never realised there was a Free Software themed pub in Dublin. Then again, I don't think the owners realise it either. pic.twitter.com/dnmrZtvurt

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) July 8, 2023

Another oddity here was that I was handed a free pint by promo staff - for Draught Corona - for the first time in many, many years. I did think that MUP would kill this off, but lets not mention that to the neo-prohibitionists...

1015320 Churchtown Stores

This former hardware store closed in 2018, but the premise retains its name (on a replica 80s facade) for what is now a gastropub operated by a branch of the noted Coman publican family.

The body-shattering quantities of food that I was served (for quite a reasonable price), including what clearly had to be nachos for four or more, sold as starter for a single person; and a hefty burger and chips might make me think more gastric bypass than gastropub; but the quality was good.

There's some craft offerings on the taps here and its a nice enough environment; and by foreshadowing the next review, its much nicer than the next nearest place with a full pub licence (that you may not consider a pub) too.

S0230 The Yellow House

Unlike the previous pub where I can't remember much of the pub itself; I remember a lot more of my visit to the Yellow House, primarily due to getting in to a conversation with the barman and a regular about where to get replacement car keys made. The glamourous chats that I have as I tick off my list.

An imposing, and I would say a tad English looking externally, purpose built pub of the Victorian era - which has much of its interior intact, but presumably not enough to get on those lists of Dublin Victorian Pubs. The listing on the NIAH includes some details on the construction and architecture. 

Although, its non-standing as one of the "classic" Victorian pubs might be that it's actually too damn old -SDCC Libraries claim the first record of a pub here is 1798 and that the existing buildings are actually 1825. They look rather newer than that to me, however; but there are other dates pre the 1837 Victorian cut-off given elsewhere such as 1827 in this Times article.

Regardless of whether is late Georgian or Victorian; or excluded from "the list" of Victorian pubs for another reason, its worth visiting. Any pub where a first time drinker can get chatting to the locals and the barman about absolute nonsense usually is.

S0227 Revels

I've occasionally mentioned smells in bars before, from the negative (damp) to the positive (pepper sauce, albeit it made me leave the bar before I ate entire second dinner and/or asked for a pint of pepper sauce instead of beer). The smell outside Revels sort of falls in to both camps - somehow, the only note of the plumes of smoke emanating from a few smokers sitting outside that were coming towards me on my way up to the pub were the nice bits, the ones that people think of when claiming a whiskey or red wine has 'notes of tobacco'. I suspect they were Bensons, as they're the only one I think I can recognise via that note.

Weirdly, that entire thing ended up being more memorable than the pub itself at this stage - these writeups are a few months behind, and while I wrote some small notes in the stub article for every other pub that day; I didn't here. Whoops. 

At this time, this is the only one of the three bars that were on Rathfarnham Main Street that's actually open. The adjacent pub - most recently S0228 Ton Tin - is closed and across the road, the former S1268 Sarahs is now a kids play centre, despite its licence occasionally popping back on the register in the decade or so that it has been closed. 

Revisited pubs, August 2023

Bit of a mix of revisits in August 2023

S3908 The Well - regular meeting venue

N0097 Underdog, Capel Street - this can now take a regular place in my visits

N0063 Cumiskeys, Dominick Street - as can this if I mis-time my Luas+train connection after leaving Underdog.

N0313 Kealys, Cloghran - the default work event pub now.

57 The Headline - a final visit before the operators move 

S0243 Bottlers Bank

It is very hard to find out if this pub is open - it is, you can trust the Google Maps opening hours - as all their social media accounts are still in the early lockdown closure days. 

An early 2000s extension to the larger Comans next door, the Bottlers Bank has generally been open throughout the long years that the main pub has stayed shut. There is currently an auction sign on the main Comans, but any reference to it online cannot be found - and searching for it only finds that the car park was up for auction last year, with a different auction house.

The pub is nicely set up, albeit with a fully macro lineup - the previous iteration pre-lockdown had some craft taps; and a manager who was good for a chat about the recent history of the place.

Somewhere the size of Rathgar should be able to keep two pubs going, even if the big one never reopens

Revisited Pubs, May-July 2023

I keep forgetting to post these despite them getting perversely good reading figures, and checking my tags it seems April was the last one. That was probably because I didn't actually revisit anywhere in May, and then forgot I even did this as a result, but here goes for a busier June and July:

N0006 Brew Dock - dinner before a concert at...

N0033 3Arena

1011234 Hogs & Heifers, Liffey Valley - last visited when it was TGI Fridays

S1493 The Circular, Rialto - after attending the Dublin Record & Tape Fair

S1519 Bird Flanagan, Rialto - because there was comfier seating available

N0097 Underdog, Capel Street - first visit of the third incarnation. Last visited when it was Beerhouse, many years before

N0063 Cumiskeys, Dominick Street - convenient for the Luas

N0082 McGraths, Drumcondra - and this one is convenient for the train

S0242 The 108

Another case of completing a list that isn't my list (my previous was getting to the last Victorian Pub from Kevin Kearns list) - this is the final Galway Bay / Brú Hospitality pub in Dublin that I had yet to visit; and I had also been to a handful more when they ran them (or before, in the case of N0097 Beerhouse which became Paddle & Peel / Taco Libre).

Like their other, now all former, suburban GBB pubs; there are a few more concessions to being a locals pub here - a few macro taps - well, a few more than the other pubs as they appear to all sell Guinness now - and TVs. There's also no direct food offering, with a local pizza place offering to-table service that I'd hazard a guess started in the €9 Substantial Meal days if it wasn't there before.

There's still plenty of craft on offer, and there's still boardgames; so you won't feel too out of place if you've just jumped off the bus from another GBB pub. I'd be quite happy to have this as a local, maybe a bit more if it had the normal GBB burgers too.

S1578 McEvoys / The Hatch

This pub has now adopted the name The Hatch, but until about ten years ago, this was the name of the former pub across the road; with this one possibly occasionally using the name The Workman - McEvoys would have been the more common name then, and is still used now.

Many people assume the canal is the county boundary; but despite some county boundaries being late Victorian inventions, this one doesn't follow the semi-logical path of the canal and instead leaves a small portion of land between it and the railway line in Dublin. 

This was the closest un-visited pub to my house - I live relatively close to Hazelhatch, but it remained rather complicated to get to until the latest stage of BusConnects provided the W61 route. It has been replaced in that role S1575 Annie Mays in Newcastle; which should have been served by the same BusConnects expansion, but this is delayed to allow the bridge at Hazelhatch to get modified.

I dropped in on only the second day of service of the W61, and it turned out I was not the first first-time customer that that route had dropped nearby, with the publican telling me that he had had a few others come in on the first day, as well as someone who had dropped in for soft drinks when driving a few weeks earlier and decided to return for pints.

It's the kind of pub that might well make you want to return, sitting as it does beside the Grand Canal and with substantial outdoor seating that would be very enjoyable on a nice day. Inside the pub is very traditional, including amongst the greebling in the bar an over-60-years-old Rings board branded for Cairnes Ale - defunct since 1959.

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I would warn those of a taller build to watch out for the doorways in the gents, which are on the low side - there may be loftier facilities in the lounge! 

1012945 Travelodge Plus

This new, higher end Travelodge property opened in 2022 on a site which included the corner that formerly housed the noted early house pub, S0041 Neds of Townsend Street / Ned Scanlans. I assume the licence for the hotel is a conversion of that licence.

The bar here is just more towards being a proper bar rather than a lobby bar; but it is right in the lobby. There's a surprisingly good range of beers here for a hotel including multiple Irish craft taps (Hope and White Hag I think). I'd still recommend going down the road to O'Neills or Moss Lane if you were out for drinks, but this isn't a bad backup option.

August 2023 Register Update

Some items of note for the first time in a while:

Additions:

1019890 Pawn Shop, Dame Street - full pub licnece replacing the stripped theatre licence of 1010288 Berlin D2. I guess this answers the "what is a pub?" question that was raised when the LVA tried to distance themselves from it!

1020285 The Voyager, Dame Street - not yet opened Louis Fitzgerald premises in development for some years.

Returns:

1003456 The Shipwright, Ringsend - closed and then put up for sale after the owner died. Now has a Ltd company listed as owner, so may have sold

S0214 Arbour House, Windy Arbour - now recorded as having the same owners as S0249 Dundrum House so presumably going to reopen.

1019163 Twin Oaks

I've written before on the problem of deciding what a pub is, and how this may be more of an issue in the future if/when the proposed licencing reforms are passed. Currently pub licences are quite expensive, so not many restaurants have them - but the number that do is increasing year on year, as there are some good reasons to do so. You can serve punters who don't want to eat, can serve beer and spirits more easily, and the licence (currently) holds its resale value fairly well.

In the case of Twin Oaks, I believe the unit was actually originally a pub (The Barbican) rather than a restaurant bringing a pub licence in - but there have been restaurants-with-pub-licences here for a while now.

But, if we were to assume I was visiting in a post-reform world, would I consider this a pub? I think I'd have to. There were three strong indications that would be amongst what I imagine I'll have to decide on in future.

First impressions would not make you think so - I walked in to be greeted by a staff member who was assigning seats. All the tables that I could see were set up for dining and there was nobody else there that was just drinking.

I was assigned to sit at the bar - not uncommon in these pub-sturants; and the first indication that I would consider this a pub appeared here. The bar had a normal pub level of taps, including multiple Irish craft options. Most restaurant bars have two to four taps at most.

The second indications appeared while I was there - two regulars who walked in, past the staff member at the door, and sat at the bar. If the place has regulars who are not dining regulars.

The third indication I noticed when heading to the gents. There is a small area to the side of the bar that appeared to be seating for drinkers; but there is also a vast, seated, covered smoking area - of a type a restaurant would never have. This appeared to be there since the pub days and not an outdoor dining era addition, and would let a reasonable pub crowd in without needing to divert any of the dining room seats. The relative scale of the bar suggests to me that this is probably what happens.

The beer was a little toward restaurant prices, but this is a fancier pub in a fancy area, so what do you expect really.

N0242 Myo's

This pub always sounds like it should be in a village halfway up a mountain in a coastal county, and not at the main road junction in a busy suburb - but it is quite an old pub. 

The pubs name is an odd one - allegedly, according to then local FF TD Jim Tunney in the Evening Herald, September 26th 1975; it is a corruption of "Miahs", as in a shortening of the name Jeremiah; from a former owner Jeremiah O'Donnell. This shortening is a bit more common in Cork than elsewhere in Ireland, as far as I know.

This could, of course, be absolute nonsense - a nearly 50 year old quote from an over 20 year old dead TD is not something that can be queried for accuracy. 

I unexpectedly ran in to an old colleague on my visit here, which provided an interesting distraction and probably stopped me from doing a danger run of trying every one of the numerous 5 Lamps taps, considering I've generally avoided drinking them anywhere else. 5 Lamps picked up a lot of tap space in the wake of the early 2023 Heineken price rises, so I wonder if the same thing here.

N0971 Roselawn Inn

Many of the 40s - 90s housing developments around Dublin centred on a shopping centre with a pub - usually at one end - and the Roselawn Shopping Centre is no different. Featuring Dublin's last 24 hour Tesco (last being in the past tense, as there's none now), and an assortment of other shop including an independent bookshop, this is on the larger side for an estate shopping centre.

The pub would also be on the larger side if upstairs was pub floor space - I am assuming it once was, but it is currently a Nepalese restaurant. This restaurant (Vayga) actually has very good reviews and I should probably drop back, as I've had good experiences with Dublin's other Nepalese restaurants.

What is on the downstairs is still a decent size, and had the oddity of a Veltins tap - a passable, and usually dirt cheap, independently brewed, German lager. This came in at a fiver a pint - rare for stout or Smithwicks and really unheard of for lager in Dublin outside of Wetherspoons in the past few years. This is a tad odd to pop up here, as its more often seen in craft beer heavy pubs that want a draught lager, but this pub isn't really that far from Grand Cru (the Irish distributor)'s base which might explain things. I forgot to look at the fridges to see if they had various Grand Cru cans or bottles.

The pub was relatively quiet - it was a Sunday with minimal sports on - and I was able to sit in the window area with natural light to read the paper for a bit. Something of limited interest except to pub, and possibly broadcasting, nerds was that the pub still has a functional CRT television, although it isn't the primary one by any means. It is located near the bar and I am assuming is a secondary TV for showing the news or similar on to the bar seating crowd.

N1058 The 79 Inn

Another large pub, and another pub with quite a nice interior - this one showing a few signs of the wear and tear of time; albeit perfectly clean and presentable (a recent post on the pubs Instagram is showing the work of a power washer firm on their beer garden tiles, so I imagine this is something they are proud of)

This post is now 7 weeks on from when I visited, so I'm not 100% certain on this; but I believe this is where I found a Beamish tap, with the pint dropped to my table when ready. Due to specifics of bus times to get me home, and not at all because I'd found a nice pint, I had a second here. There was food on offer, but on the recomendation of my brother - a former Ballyfermot resident - I went to the chipper the other side of the former cinema / now discount store.

Said food offering here used to be advertised by a memorable sign (I remembered it from driving past), swiped from a 2009 Streetview pass below:

Carvery Now Reopened Under Old Management

We must assume it had a positive reputation, and had closed for another reason such as the general economic malaise of the time.

N1057 Downeys

Downeys smelled funny.

But not in a bad way, just a vaguely indescribable way. It was sort of a mix of the smell of a cinema - minus the popcorn - and a new car. But specifically a new car in the 1990s. Even more specifically my Dad's friends Renault 21 at that. Smell memories are very odd and very specific sometimes.

After looking around at the immaculately turned out interior, I came to the conclusion that it was probably very new seat covering fabric providing its own equivalent of new car smell.

Anyway, odors of a non malodorous nature over and done with, this was quite a nice pub inside. There's a slightly odd layout, with a tunnel of sorts past the bar bringing you in to the lounge, which shares its gents toilets with said bar. The lounge is large, with multiple sections and a relatively quiet corner can be found even when there are sports on TV in another section.

A final note of mild interest - the exit doors to the street had a warning on them, which I attempted to get a photograph of, but blazing sunlight outside and general pub dimness inside over-stretched my phones image handling . This warned to watch out for e-scooters passing on the footpath. Such a specific warning sign suggests there has been an incident before!